smoky mountain balloon adventures

We took our hot air balloon ride on Sept 19th. What an incredible experience. We received such personal service from Jeff, Debbie and our pilot Brian. We would love to do this again sometime and would definitely recommend Smoky Mountain Balloon Adventures.

My wife and I were visiting the Smokey Mountains area for a couple days and returned today. It was our 34th wedding anniversary, and we decided to get a ride in a hot air balloon. I called Jeff Lansdown, the owner of Smokey Mountain Balloon Adventures, and asked if it would be possible to do this the next day. He was very pleasant to deal with and said he would get back to me that evening. In the evening, he said he had spoken to the pilot and we could get a ride the following evening. He mailed us a receipt for the $100 deposit, and directions to meet him at 5:30 PM the next day.Jeff met us promptly, and we drove in his van 10 miles down the road to meet up with the pilot, Brian, and Jeff's partner, Debbie. There was a thunderstorm in the area, so we hung around for a while waiting to see if a ride would be possible. Things started to clear up, and we all drove to another location which was to be the launch site for the balloon. Again a little more waiting to make sure the conditions were safe, and then the process to start unpacking and filling up the balloon. The entire process is very interesting - watching the balloon get attached to the basket, using fans to fill it with air, and then ultimately hot air. We were ready to go around 7:00 PM with sunset predicted to be 8:08 PM. Brian, the pilot, and the two of us got in the basket and rose quietly into the air. Jeff and Debbie kept tabs using a radio so that they could pick us up once we landed.Just for background, the pilot does not have much control over the balloon unlike an airplane. One can control going up and down, but beyond that you are at the mercy of the wind. By adjusting altitude, the pilot can pick up different winds and thus have some limited control over direction. Also, one does not have much choice in landing areas - one has to pick something suitable along the way that the balloon is drifting.Brian was not the usual pilot that Jeff uses. We gathered that he was doing this for the first time for Jeff. Brian is a very capable pilot who flies Boeing 777s, and also is an experienced hot air balloon pilot. However, I don't think he is used to taking tourists for a ride. Perhaps this limited our enjoyment of the ride, or it was just our luck with the winds, or perhaps a combination.We never rose to more than 500-600 feet above ground level. Brian said it was because he could not get winds any higher, but we didn't try going up to 1500 or 2000 feet so I am not sure how he knew, or if he was just saying this because he was happy that he had a wind he could use at 500 feet. Of course, as first timers we would have enjoyed going up higher (as is typical from the website), and would certainly have had a better view. As it is we crossed over the interstate, and over some farmlands, only to land all too soon in the front yard of one of the farm houses. Even without a favorable wind at 2000 feet, I think it would have been nice to try to catch a wind up there and then come down if we had to. We did scare a lot of cows for most of our journey!The whole process of squeezing the air out of the balloon, packing it up, and loading it on to the van was interesting. Jeff then drove us back to our car after dropping off Brian and Debbie. By this time it was close to 9:30 PM. It was a little uncomfortable at the end when Jeff swiped our card for the balance on his iPad, and then handed the iPad to me to click on "10, 15, or 20%" tip. To his credit, he was not pushy at all, and said I could just click on "Continue" if I did not want to add a tip. I am not sure what the norm is in these situations, but after paying $546.56 for the <1 hour ride, I wasn't inclined to add on another minimum of a $50 tip. I regularly tip well at restaurants, knowing that the waiters are paid minimum wages in expectation of a tip, but I don't think the owner of an expensive balloon ride should ask for a tip. Perhaps it's just me.All in all, Jeff, Debbie, and Brian were extremely nice people to deal with and we felt safe at all times. Our ride was a little anticlimactic - I think we would have enjoyed it a lot more if we would have flown a little higher, seen a little more scenery, and if it lasted a little longer. We are glad we did it - it was something we always wanted to do - but not sure if we would spend $550 again for another ride.

Loved it!!!! Jake was the best, was great with the kids!! Highly recommend !!